116 students attended an internship explanatory meeting held by the Yokohama Bay Stars today.  The team has about fifteen spots available.

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TBS plans to broadcast at least fourteen games this season on their BS channel.

Shugo Fujii had a rough outing today, giving up five runs on eight hits over three innings of work.  Depending on how well other players do, Fujii could end up getting sent down to Ni-gun.

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Pitching coach Yui Tomori was out today with the cold.  He was examined at a hospital and tests for the influenza virus came back negative.  He will be examined again on Wednesday.

Tomori will not travel back with the team to Tokyo and will remain in Okinawa for additional rest.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata joined the players some of their workouts on Monday.  During running drills from the batter's box to first base, Nakahata was clocked at 4.35 seconds, worse than Alex Ramirez's 4.25 seconds.  And during batting practice, he took nine swings and collected three could-be hits.

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Daisuke Miura, Yota Kosugi, and Kentaro Takasaki all apparently threw 2,000+ pitches during spring camp.

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The Bay Stars closed out their spring camp in Ginowan today.

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Yoshitomo Tsutsugo is still feeling pain in his left ankle (diagnosed with bone contusion on February 19) and could end up missing more time than initially expected.  Tsutsugo is still using crutches to get around.

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Pitching coach Yui Tomori informed Yuki Kuniyoshi today that he filled his spring camp pitch quota of 1,500 pitches.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata told reporters on Sunday that he plans to keep a close eye on Shun Tono's (YOM) delivery during the regular season because he feels he might be breaking/bending the double-pump rule with his leg.

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Nakahata, GM Shigeru Takada, and team president Jun Ikeda visited Ginowan City Offices today and met mayor Atsushi Sakima to formally submit a request to improve the indoor facilities and to install new grass in the outfield at Ginowan Stadium.

The city is planning to install new grass in the outfield before the end of the year.  The city would also like to renovate the indoor facilities, but that will probably have to wait until after this year.

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The Bay Stars pushed the start of the game back to 2:00pm (original time 1:00pm) but still decided to cancel the exhibition game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on Sunday before noon because weather conditions were not improving.

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Alex Ramirez probably will not play defense until some time in March.

Kentaro Takasaki is scheduled to start Saturday's exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants.

The top four batters in the line-up could be: Sho Aranami, Naoto Watanabe, Takehiro Ishikawa, and Alex Ramirez.

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The Bay Stars announced today that Shintaro Ejiri will begin working out at Ni-gun on Saturday because of pain in his right shoulder.

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Alex Ramirez has been feeling some tightness in his back.  He played through Thursday's game against KIA with the help from the trainer.

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In an effort to strengthen their farm system, the Bay Stars plan to add about fifty games to their Ni-gun schedule this year.  The games will be in addition to the Ni-gun regular season schedule and will be against University, Industrial, and Independent League teams (two games have already been decided: JX-ENEOS and Tokyo University).  In cases where two Ni-gun games are scheduled, the Bay Stars will split their Ni-gun roster into two groups.

Said GM Shigeru Takada, "We have a lot of players and not enough regular season games.  And there are things you can only learn by playing in games.  There are a lot of things players can take away from games and we also want to give the younger players more experience."

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The Ichi-gun Bay Stars have the day off tomorrow.

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Kisho Kagami started spring camp at Ni-gun because of a left ankle sprain.  He made it to Ichi-gun camp during the third block of spring camp and tossed batting practice today.

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NPB Commissioner Ryozo Kato visited Ginowan camp today.  This was his last stop.

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Ginowan mayor Atsushi Sakima observed camp on Wednesday.  Kiyoshi Nakahata spoke to Sakima about a new indoor training facility and new grass in the outfield at Ginowan Stadium.  Sakima told Nakahata he is working on both.  Sakima in turn asked if Nakahata could help promote the city.

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The coaches decided to send Ikki and and Atsushi Kita down to Ni-gun today.  The two left Ginowan camp today and returned to Yokohama.  They will join the Ni-gun team on Thursday.

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Daisuke Miura apparently reached the 2,000th pitch milestone today (Nikkan Sports mentions 2,085).  He is the first Bay Star to reach the milestone during spring camp so far.

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According to Nikkan Sports, possible candidates for the starting rotation include: Giancarlo Alvarado, Brandon Mann, Kentaro Takasaki, Miura, and Yuki Kuniyoshi lead the pack, followed by Hiroshi Kobayashi, Futoshi Kobayashi, and Shugo Fujii.

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GM Shigeru Takada spoke to reporters on Tuesday and echoed Kiyoshi Nakahata's words about wanting Hideki Matsui to join the Bay Stars.

====== UPDATE 2/23 @ 1:28am

Alex Ramirez is scheduled to get a couple of at bats during Thursday's practice game against the KIA Tigers.  He is also expected to be the starting DH and bat fourth against the Yomiuri Giants of February 25.

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Kuniyoshi's next could come during an exhibition game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on February 26.

Kiyoshi Nakahata took about ten pitches during batting practice today.  He began with bunts and then worked his way to swings.  Before hitting a single to right on the 7th pitch he saw, Nakahata also set the imaginary count at 3-2 with the bases loaded and two out.

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Nakahata told reporters that Yuki Kuniyoshi is the first player to arrive at the team cafeteria and the last player to leave the team cafeteria in the morning and evening.

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If Yoshitomo Tsutsugo cannot make it back in time to play five exhibition games, Nakahata feels three should be enough.  That means Tsutsugo will have until March 23.

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Nakahata wondered to reporters out loud on Monday if Japan was still not an option for Hideki Matsui.

The Ichi-gun Bay Stars had the day off today.

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Alex Ramirez and Yuki Yoshimura visited about 870 kids at Kakazu Elementary School in Ginowan on their day off today.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata told reporters today that he felt Yoshitomo Tsutsugo would be ok if he was able to play in the last five exhibition games on the schedule.  He then added that coming back at 100% was top priority.

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Kentaro Takasaki's next start will be in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants on February 25.

====== UPDATE 2/21 @ 1:25am

The Bay Stars announced on Monday a time change for their home opener against the Chunichi Dragons on April 3. The home opener will begin thirty minutes later than scheduled (from 6:00pm to 6:30pm) in order to account for an opening day ceremony.

Today was the last day of the third block of spring camp for the Ichi-gun Bay Stars.  The Ichi-gun Bay Stars have the day off tomorrow.